It's my Birthday!!! Sept 23, 2011

Haley turned 1 year old on September 23!  We cannot believe how fast this year has gone, and how much she's changed.  Trey's sister, Aunt Kerrie, flew here on Sept 22-26, so we had a little cake and balloons.  She got lots of presents and had fun with them. 

We wanted to get her a little cake of her own, but it ended up being chocolate so luckily we also had bought some yellow cupcakes at the mall for her to eat.  She was NOT a fan of the icing, but did enjoy the cake part (but only after trey cut it into bite size pieces!)  We did not give her any of the chocolate cake - just some icing.  I have some videos that I will add in a separate posting.

she loved the balloons

its my party and i'll cry if i want to!

one taste of chocolate

not a fan of the icing!

daddy boutht special princess plates for haley! 
eating the small pieces of cake.

very thirsty after eating some cake!

presents from grandma & pepaw

singing minnie mouse card

looking admirably at aunt kerrie

outfit from aunt kerrie

outfit from aunt kerrie

all the loot!

we got her a truck she can push, pull, and ride on & she loved it!

just chillin in my birthday bib and sparkley jeans

mailbox from uncle jake, aunt sara & cousin carson & baby 2

being silly

haley decided to pose for the camera, so i took advantage of the opportunity! 

look at my teeth!

she loves to wrinkle her nose when she smiles

pick me up - i'm ready to go outside!

more walking vidoes - September 2, 2011

walking!

haley has started taking steps on her own a few days ago.  i caught a quick video. 
she is 11 months old

it's been a while!

the last month has been really busy, especially since i was gone for 2 weeks of it !  i had a business trip to singapore & melbourne, so grandma preisler flew up to help trey out while i was gone.  it was REALLY hard leaving and being gone so long, but i kept very busy while i was away, which helped.  i was so happy when i got back and she wanted to come to me right away.  ;-)

haley will be 11 months old next week.  since my last update, haley has really gotten good at standing up on her own (without pulling up on anything), balancing while standing...clapping while standing and walking with our fingers.  the last few days she has started grabbing our fingers and pulling us along while she walks.  it's really cool to see her want to walk.  and, she's getting very quick too. 

she's eating solids 3x a day and finger foods once per day. lately she's tried plums, bananas, goldfish, graham crackers, cantelope, green beans, teething biscuits, and mashed potatoes.  she's still taking 5 bottles a day - between 20 and 28 oz a day in total.  and she's drinking a few oz of water from her sippy cup each day too.  sometimes she forgets that she has to tip the sippy cup back to get the water, but she's definitely getting better.

she is a LOT of fun now - laughing a lot, waving to people, and constantly babbling...no real words yet.  but, she definitely knows that trey is 'da da'.  i can say "haley, where is daddy?", and she will turn to him and wave...and sometimes say da da along with it.  she does not do the same thing with me yet.  

her hair is getting pretty long but the clips keep slipping out due to how fine it is.  and she is not a fan of head bands or hats. so for now the hair will just be a bit wild.  we comb it every day but it is everywhere by the end of the day. 

not sure how tall she is, but she was weighed 1 week ago and was 21 lbs 6 oz. she only looks chubby in the cheeks, but the rest of her body is pretty slim.   she has 4 teeth in total - 2 on top & 2 on bottom. 

here are some pics:

first time to eat a teething biscuit

she REALLY liked it !

"palming" her ball !

another angle of her palming the ball

every time we open the fridge she races over to get the mustard.

pretty bow

hey you!

chubby cheeks!

update on haley @ 9.5 months old.

It’s hard to believe haley is 9 ½ months old already! 
since my crawling post in june, she has gotten very good at crawling and standing up  / scooting along against things.  just this weekend, she's starting to take her hands off of the things she is standing next to...just for a few seconds...to work on her balance.  it's really cool to see.   

from an eating standpoint, she's doing great. we introduced finger foods (puffs) on june 26 and have since added cheerios to the menu.  she is having solids 3 times a day (btwn 2-4 oz each time), and a snack of puffs once, plus between 25 & 30 oz of formula a day.  so, a very healthy eater at 9.5 months old!  on the food front, we have tried green beans, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, apples, bananas, pears, peaches, mango, and chicken.  they have all been a hit.  the one thing that didn't really agree with her was apples mixed with cherries.  seemed to upset her tummy.  she did really well with the chicken, but it's courser than the other foods, so a little adjustment.  and we have to be sure to give her something with a good amt of fiber the same day, otherwise the high protein of the chicken tends to clog her up a bit.  we also tried a sippy cup on june 26, with water only.  she has the hang of drinking from it, but still does not realize that she has to tip it back, so we're helping her in that area.

she's still not taking great naps at daycare, but we are working to adjust her bottles to be closer to nap time and it seemed to help 2 days so far.  fingers crossed it will help going forward.

haley got her first ear infection the day i left for miami (june 20)!  poor thing.  the doc told us we were lucky she had not had one earlier.  she finished her antibiotic a few days ago, but something still seems to be uncomfortable for her, so we'll go back for a follow-up asap.   on the day of her visit she weighed 21 lbs.

she still has 2 teeth on the bottom, and none on top.  but, that does not seem to make a difference with the puffs & cheerios. 

she's a chatter box these days -- no real words except mama & dada, but nonstop noise either babbling or singing.  i started making indian sounds on her mouth when she makes long noises, and she loves it!

standing up to see da da

see how tall i am !  28 inches when last measured end of april.

sporting the outfit from aunt sara & uncle jake

family photo after we came back from miami

G&G in town

trey's parents (a.k.a. G & G ...grandma & grandpa) were planning to fly to DC the last week of may to visit us.  but, since we had to fly in for trey's grandma polak's funeral the week before their planned trip, they opted to rebook their flights for june.  it worked out to be the week i was going to miami for a workshop, and we decided to utilize the opportunity and let g&g keep haley a few nights by themselves, so trey could meet me in miami.  trey stayed with them in VA for a few days, then headed to meet me, and we had a great time exploring south beach area and lounging on miami beach.  thanks to all my marriott points, we were upgraded to a room with a fantastic view of the ocean and a nice balcony.  it was my first time away from her for an extended period, and i did well, but started to miss her the last few days since we kept seeing babies around us!

from what we heard haley was super good for g&g while we were gone, and in fact when we got back it took almost 30 minutes before she would let go of grandma & come to us!  (luckily lorie had prepared me for this possibility!)  they went on walks and swinging a few times a day and played.   we took lots of photos below.

smiles all around when g&g arrive !

having fun w/grandma



heading out to dinner

swinging - haley's new favorite past time!

getting a push from grandpa!

last time outside before g&g flew back to TX

last stroller ride with g&g